July is on it's way out!

Time sure does fly! I can't believe July ends tomorrow. Before long, it'll be sweater weather again... No, I don't need to think about that! Otherwise, I'll want to cast on a sweater!

I've got one FO this week, and one sort-of FO. I finished my Dirty NOLA socks tonight.  That makes 4 pairs done for the 26 Pair Plunge that I'm participating in. Just 22 pairs to go!

They're knit from Premier Yarn Deborah Norville Serenity Sock in the Harlequin colorway, on US 1/2.25 mm needles. It took just shy of a month to finish them, but I definitely wasn't monogamous...

I also finished a dishcloth, then started on another, because I've decided what my Christmas presents for lots of people will be this year ;)

I've got three or four of these big balls of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, as well as some Sugar & Cream, and some Peaches & Cream. 

Of course, I've worked on things that didn't get finished:

- Tiffany and Philip's baby blanket

- Mum's Moonlight Shawl

- My grey stripey socks

- Lorna's birthday socks

- and the big project of the week, the picnic blanket. 

I started working on this blanket about four years ago. A group of us had gotten into the habit of meeting for lunch in the park across from my office, and I thought it would be great to make a picnic blanket for us to use. Before I could get it finished, though, a bunch of stuff happened, and two of the three people are no longer in my life. The picnic blanket went into hibernation and has been there ever since. 

With all of the podcasts I've been listening to, I've heard lots about the Beekeeper's Quilt, and I've decided that would be a great way to use up my leftover sock yarn from the 26 Pair Plunge. I knew I'd need a place to store the hexipuffs, but I didn't really want to buy something new. This picnic blanket, though, was living in a sort of pretty basket, which would be a great place to store hexipuffs!

So the picnic blanket is now out of hibernation, because I want that basket. I promised myself that I wouldn't buy the Beekeeper's Quilt pattern until I had that basket free, so I'm working on that a lot. It's crochet, and has 172 squares. Individual squares. Which all needed to be crocheted together. 

I've finished all the squares, and a big chunk of the seams, and I realized: SEAMS SUCK. I don't like them at all. But I've got five left to finish, then a couple rows of pattern around the edges to make it all pretty. With any luck, I'll have it finished for next week's update! Cross your fingers! 

And finally, I've been considering doing a vlog instead of a blog entry, probably because I've watched so many video podcasts lately. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Would you rather have a video or photos?